After moving his family back to his hometown to be with his friends and their kids, Lenny (Adam Sandler), finds out that between old bullies, new bullies, schizo bus drivers, drunk cops on skis, and 400 costumed party crashers sometimes crazy follows you. From: IMDb.com
It's an original enough movie but certainly not the best werewolf movie I have ever seen.
Well, this movie isn't doing an awful lot wrong but at the same time it still gives you the feeling it could have been a whole lot better. Perhaps the movie was too much focused on doing something new with werewolves and tried to be original with its concept, only to forget about its actual story.
There were some things I was really liking about the movie its story though. Thing I for instance really liked about it was how it slowly transformed from a normal and very typical serial killer type of horror/thriller into a more classic monster movie type of horror. I don't think I'm spoiling much by saying that at some point werewolves start to show up in this movie. After all, just look at the movie its cover and read its title...spoils everything from the get go. I definitely would have preferred not knowing at all what this movie was all about. This would have enhanced the movie its tension, mystery and horror significantly!
It was obvious to me that director Joe Dante must have really liked the werewolf movies from the '40's (perhaps that's also why John Carradine is in it?) and also used it as an inspiration for this movie. There are numerous references to it throughout and it tries to mimic some of its atmosphere, story beats and characters, which shouldn't be a big surprise, seeing how between the '40's and 1981, when this movie got done, not an awful lot of big or popular werewolf movies got made, so he didn't have much else to go by. As a matter of fact, it wasn't until this movie that the sub genre started to become popular again and more werewolf movies started to emerge, not long after this movie became an unexpected hit.
Thing I didn't like that much about its story was how it felt a little bit underdeveloped at times. The movie seemed to have plenty of ideas in it, that too often, don't amount to anything. Some potentially interesting side-plots were going absolutely nowhere and also got abandoned after a short while. I for instance would have loved the movie to focus some more on the Patrick Macnee character, who seemed like a pretty interesting one but hardly got used in the movie.
It's a flat out horror and monster movie but the movie at the same time still attempts to give the movie a sense of realism. At times it got in the way of the movie its horror and it just wasn't always working for me. I certainly liked the movie best when it was going all out with its horror and werewolf moments! This not in the least was due to the werewolves' impressive looks. The effects and makeup used in this movie, done by Rob Bottin and Rick Baker, looked absolutely fantastic. The transformation scenes were pretty impressive as well, especially when considering this is an '80's movie, that only had a very small budget to spend.
It's not entirely without humor but for most part this is a very 'serious' and straightforward, dark, horror movie by Joe Dante. A bit surprising perhaps, since he's better known for doing lighter type of movies. Even his other horror movies are much lighter ones, such as the original 1978 "Piranha" and the two much loved Gremlins movies. So know what to expect- or more importantly, not to except from this movie!
I liked watching this movie, mostly because it was an original and effective one within its genre but it's certainly not as great as it potentially could have been!
After moving his family back to his hometown to be with his friends and their kids, Lenny (Adam Sandler), finds out that between old bullies, new bullies, schizo bus drivers, drunk cops on skis, and 400 costumed party crashers sometimes crazy follows you. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Dennis Dugan
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock and others
The all-star comedy cast from Grown Ups returns (with some exciting new additions) for more summertime laughs. Lenny (Adam Sandler) has relocated his family back to the small town where he and his friends grew up. This time around, the grown ups are the ones learning lessons from their kids on a day notoriously full of surprises: the last day of school. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Dennis Dugan
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock and others
(Review originally written at 7 November 2008) *** This review may contain spoilers *** 17 years after his previous Columbo movie appearance, William Shatner again plays the murderer within a Columbo movie. His role is better and more interesting than was the case in his previous Columbo movie appearance but his performance isn't really though. Shatner goes terribly over-the-top with his role and he actually is a real B-actor, with an A-actor's status however, due to his "Star Trek" fame. It's actually quite fun to see him act but for all the wrong reasons, especially in the way he delivers his lines. Peter Falk on the other hand is really great, perhaps even better than usual. He seemed to be in a good mood while playing in this. He provides the movie with some great relieving humor. No big surprise that the movie features some good humor since the movie is directed by Dennis Dugan. Dugan is a director who mostly directed comedies throughout his career. He began his career with directing for TV but now days he also has some successful and well known theatrical movies behind his name, with "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" and "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" as the most recent examples. The movie has a real typical Columbo movie plot, that follows the usual formula and features all of the right requirements. So no surprises in this movie really or anything that makes this movie a special one but it's all good enough to please the average Columbo lovers. The killing is actually done quite good and original too bad that the rest of the movie its plot isn't that good or interesting. I love though how Lt. Columbo is trying to put pressure on the Shatner character by using his obvious love for his (step)daughter against him, later in the movie. So yes, despite Shatner this is still a fine average and certainly watchable Columbo movie entry. 7/10 Watch trailer
(Review originally written at 6 August 2008) I really like Patrick McGoohan's most other directed Columbo movies really much, since his directing style certainly give the movies something extra. However he went too far with this movie. The directing and story-telling in general is different from the usual Columbo movie formula. It's a real slow moving movie, in which the killer himself also isn't known to the viewers this time, until of course the very ending. It's obvious they wanted to try something different for the Columbo series, as they tried numerous times before and after this movie as well. Funny though that they always went back to the usual Columbo style we all are so accustomed to. Really problem with this movie is its pacing. It's annoyingly slow. Sequences seem to go on for ever without getting to its point. It really makes you wonder why the movie wasn't provided with any more pace. At one point Lt. Columbo goes into a trance. The actual movie itself also really feels like it goes into a trance though. It really doesn't make this movie a pleasant one to watch. It's not like the story is anything too bad, or the approach of not revealing who the killer is, or how the murder was committed, until the very end, is a bad one but it just doesn't work out with this type of directing approach as got picked by Patrick McGoohan, who is probably also better known and respected as an actor than a director really. One thing McGoohan still does right though is the movie its humor. He is one of those directors who understood the Columbo character well and knew how to throw in the right kind of relieving humor, involving the character. Though being a close personal friend of Peter Falk, he probably gave him a bit too much room though to do his comedy thing, since he definitely goes a bit over-the-top with it at times. Oh well, at least he still probably had lots of fun with it. Poor Robert Vaughn. He's a great actor but the Columbo movies he has starred in just aren't among the greatest. He deserved better, also since he seems really like an actor who is the right guy for playing these type of roles in these types of movies. Tiresome off-boat Columbo entry. It has a good typical Columbo ending though. 4/10 Watch trailer
